Accessibility

Most people who work in the web industry have heard of web accessibility by now. Many organisations are attempting to make their sites more accessible, and over the past few years the general level of website accessibility on the web has clearly risen. There is still a long way to go though, and clients and managers do sometimes need some persuasion. We have outlined some key reasons as to why your website should get accessible.

1 Increase in reach

In the UK the number of people potentially facing difficulties on the web is startling: 14% of the population are registered disabled, 4% are registered with some form of sight problem and 21% are aged 60 or over. Populations of countries across the developed world undoubtedly have a similar number of people with special needs.

2 Increased search engine ranking

There's a massive overlap between website accessibility and search engine ranking. Both screen readers and search engines access web pages through the HTML code - pages that are easier to access for one are equally easier to access for the other.

3 Enhanced usability

There's also a large overlap between website accessibility and website usability. Using headings and descriptive link text and front-loading content, for example, are great for both website accessibility and usability. Essentially, a lot of website accessibility is usability: a site that's more usable for non-disabled web users is exponentially more usable for users with special needs.

4 Access to 'new' technologies

The use of mobile phones and PDAs to access the web is increasing at a dramatic rate - block this group of users from your website at your peril!

How Indigo can help your company

We understand that you might not have the inhouse technical skills to deal with Website Accessibility. This is why we can work with you as a Website Consultant to help you to ensure your company has a W3C Compliant website. We carry out detailed reporting and provide you with online certificates to confirm that you have an accessible website. Not only will this mean your site is worthy of Government standards but it also improves your rankings within Search Engines.

If you are interested in talking to one of our Web Consultants, please give us a call on 020 8959 8337 or email us at info@indigoideas.co.uk.

Indigo has been designed to be accessible to all users, irrespective of browser type, speed of connection or physical ability, and to meet conformance level Triple-A of the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 (WCAG).

Accesskeys

One of the recommendations in the W3C-WCAG guidelines is the provision of Accesskeys on all web pages.

Accesskeys are keyboard shortcuts which allow users to navigate around the website without having to use a mouse or similar device.

To use these accesskey shortcuts, Windows users should press the "alt" key together with the relevant number below, then "enter".

Macintosh users should press the "Ctrl" key together with the accesskey, then "enter".

This website uses the recommended UK Government accesskeys where they are relevant :

1  Homepage
3  Sitemap
5  FAQs
6  Help
7  Contact us
8  Legal statements and assertions
0  Accesskey details

In addition, we use extra accesskeys of our own :

P - portfolio
S - services
A - about us
J - join us
W - website design
D - search engine optimisation
X - hosting
L - disclaimer

Note that accesskeys will not work on older browsers which do not support the W3C HTML 4.0 standards.

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